Archive for October, 2008

The SFA have just released general sale tickets for the Scotland v Argentina match. Tickets can be bought over the phone by calling the SECC ticket hotline on 0844 481 1818 or by logging onto www.ticketlink.co.uk/scotlandtickets.

Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against Holland has been confirmed as taking pace in Amsterdam. The SFA have just declared the venue for the match on 28 March as being the Arena Stadium, home of AFAC Ajax. With a capacity of 51,600, Scotland fan stand to be given an allocation of 5,100 tickets.

Amsterdam Arena

Unfortunately, I’m going to miss this match. Heading to Amsterdam with the Tartan Army would have been a pile of fun, but I’ve been asked over to America to see a friend. With a bit of luck though I hope to find a cable channel showing the match, and hopefully see a Scottish goal or two.

I am gutted! We should have won. OK, it wouldn’t have been a result to shout too loud about, but 3 points is 3 points and a step closer to South Africa. But no. With a perfect chance to be the hero of the day, Chris Iwelumo let the opportunity go begging. Forgiveness is not easy to find.:-(

We travelled over 400 miles for that disappointment! Noone was expecting a mass of goals or Pele-esque show of skill, but a victory would have been nice. Norway are ranked below Scotland for a reason. This would suggest to me that Scotland should be able to secure 3 points at home. Obviously I am misguided!!

George Burley supposedly promised continuity following the 2-1 victory in Iceland. Well, that didn’t work out. Despite having more of the possession, we rarely seemed likely to score. The Norwegians put Gordon under pressure numerours times, our goalkeeper saving us a mumberof times. Then when we had the best chanceof the match Chris Iwelumo decides to punt the ball wide from 3 yards. What could have been an outstanding debut was wasted, leaving the Hampden loyal shocked and dejected. And that was as good as it got.

Tickets for the Scotland v Argentine friendly at Hampden on 19 November are on sale to Scotland Supporters Club members from 9am on 8th October. Tickets are available via www.ticketlink.co.uk/sscticketing and cost £25 – £35.

Argentina national team

I have to admit I am quite apathetic about this match. It’s unlikely I’ll go. Argentina are not the team the used to be, being ranked 7th in the world. This compares to their historical, almost guaranteed top 2 placing. So can we expect to see an outstanding match? With the South Americans heading south in the rankings I can only assume they are not the unstoppable machine they used to be.

Maybe I am being too negative. 7th in the World is not exactly poor. However I am also unsure how helpful it will be for Scotland to go up against a South American team. Our main concern has to be qualification for the World Cup. In recent years we are finding it difficult to qualify for that and Euro championships. With this in mind, perhaps Scotland need to face some East European teams as they seem to a significant barrier to qualification, e.g. if Scotland had won in Georgia like every other team in our Euro 2008 group, bar the Faroe Isles, we would have all been visiting Austria/Switzerland. Then, when we are good enough to ensure qualification, we can start thinking about facing non-European opposition.

I’ll definatley be watching. Whether its the Rob Roy or Famous 3 Kings we’ll be there watching for Miller, McFadden and co, hopefully showing the Argentines a goal or two.